The Changing Zeitgeist of German Higher Education and the Role of GATS

Abstract

This article discusses the apparently contradictory nature of two aspects of German higher education and research policy in relation to internationalization. The more traditional policy of Europeanization, which is reaching its climax in the German commitment to the Bologna Process, is based on co-operation. However, a parallel policy, a response to globalization, is stimulating a highly competition-oriented role for German higher education and research along the lines of the GATS paradigm. The latter policy, with its call for world-scale competition rather than co-operation, implies a re-nationalization of higher education and research. Can the two policies co-exist or does the policy calling for increased competition really represent a new Zeitgeist for German higher education and science?